« And The Truth Shall Set You Free | Main | Got Milk? »

May 20, 2003

More Fun Than A Barrel Of...

...humans?

Chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should properly be considered as members of the human family, according to new genetic research.

We shared a common ancestor many millions of years ago
Scientists from the Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, US, examined key genes in humans and several ape species and found our "life code" to be 99.4% the same as chimps.

They propose moving common chimps and another very closely related ape, bonobos, into the genus, Homo, the taxonomic grouping researchers use to classify people in the animal kingdom.

An interesting idea - and, hell, if the data warrants it, let's do it.

"There has been this notion since Aristotle's time of this great chain of being with humans at the top and then less complex life at the bottom. But while that might seem intuitive to some people, it doesn't appear to be borne out by the data."

Indeed - of course, there remains much modern ignorance, leading some to ask (condescendingly) "If evolution is true, WHY ARE THERE STILL MONKEYS? HUH? HUH? BOOYAH! GOD WINS!" It hardly seems worth it to even get into it with someone whose grasp of the evolutionary tree is tenuous at best.

Anyway, it should be apparent that we at the WWR like our animal cousins - so let's welcome them into the family*. It's not like many human families don't already include slope-browed, knuckle-dragging members.

* No, you still can't get funky on the monkey with them. Sicko.